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Free Apple Store shirts fetch $150 on eBay

The highly sought after XL Apple souvenir shirt wears more like a
dress than a t-shirt.

Asher MosesJune 26, 2008 - 10:27AM

Souvenir blue t-shirts made to commemorate the opening of
Apple's new flagship store in the heart of the Sydney CBD are
already attracting bids of up to $150 on eBay.

Around 2500 shirts were handed out to the first people who
entered the store following its grandiose opening at 5pm last
Thursday.

The shirts, which only come in one colour and one size - XL -
feature an iPod Nano wave motif in one corner and the words
"Store's Up" across the chest. A line on the back of the shirt
reads: "Apple Store, Sydney 19.6.08".

This morning, 14 of the shirts were up for sale on eBay and two
more sold yesterday for $51 each. The items attracted numerous bids
- one auction, which ends today, has 19 bids up to $152.50.

Matthew Powell, editor of Australian Macworld magazine, said
Apple gave away 2500 commemorative shirts at every new store
opening.

The $15 million Sydney store is Apple's first retail outlet in
the southern hemisphere and the second largest in the world after
the one in Regent Street, London. Apple fans queued up for 30 hours
or more just to be there when the doors swung open to the public
for the first time.

"Some people take pride in the number of Apple store openings
they've been to - in the US people will say they've been to 10, 15,
20 Apple store openings and for some of those guys an Australian
Apple store opening t-shirt might be an extra thing to add to the
collection - it doesn't matter that they weren't there." said
Powell.

It's not typically fashionable to wear a t-shirt branded with a
technology company's logo but for Apple fans, who travel to Apple's
headquarters in Cupertino just to be photographed in front of the
sign, it's an almost religious experience.

"For a lot of people Apple is much more than a company," said
Powell.

"Gil Amelio put it very well when he was CEO [of Apple in
1995-97] - he thought he was running a company, he didn't realise
he was running a religion."